Paid Website Versus a Free Facebook Page

Which One Do You Need?

Free Facebook Business Page

Facebook, just like the other major social media platforms are great for generating followers and creating exposure. They are developed specifically for social interaction so they foster a great environment for sellers and buyers. You can use Facebook to grow your target audience, a group of people who are specifically interested in you, your brand, what you're selling, or whatever you are doing. And this is EXACTLY what you want. There is no better situation than being able to get what you have to the people who want it. That is, by definition, what successful marketing is meant to do?

Facebook is also a perfect platform to advertise and find your target market because of their Ad tools. It's much easier to create ads that zero in on almost anything about a prospective buyer you could want. You can now target people based on their spending habits. Now that's priceless!

Did you know that Facebook makes the majority of their money from Ads? Every time you "Like" something, they relay that info to their customers (companies that pay to advertise on Facebook) and in turn get paid for finding those customers potential clients for them. You and I don't pay anything for using Facebookbut each of us is worth a minimum $2+ at the time that I 'm writing this article. First multiply that times the millions of Americans that use Facebook. Then multiply that times the billions of people that use their service. See how that adds up rather quickly?

Also, social media platforms like Facebook are free and easy to learn to setup. This is great for entrepreneurs that are just getting started. Most have little to no marketing budget or even think about having one.

For all of the great things about having a Facebook business or fan page there's a pretty huge con. You don't own Facebook so you have no control over your content once it's on there. They could decide to change their entire platform or delete your page and there's nothing that you can do about it. And as a business owner, controlling your brand and intellectual property are paramount to your growth!

Paid WebSite

It just so happens that the benefits of having a paid website are some of the very cons of having a Facebook page only. The lack of control has to be the number one reason not to rely on just a social media business website like Facebook. With a paid website, you have total control over every aspect of the website. It can do everything that you want and need it to. You control the look and feel, which can play heavily into the branding of your business. You can determine the user experience from the time they visit your site until the time that they leave it. You can determine the layout that's best for your content and make sure that your prospective customers receive it as you intended them to. Having your own paid website also allows you and your visitors to easily share your content on many different social media platform at the same time. Why settle for one when you can use just a click or two and reach all of them at the same time.

Now let us talk about professionalism. Having a professional website, today, determines your credibility as a business. You know that I am telling you the truth. When we are looking for a company or business to purchase from, we're a lot less likely to buy from them if their website looks like it was built in 1998. Am I right?

Having a professional website also means being able to have professional email addresses. Your business email address should always match your domain name. I talk about how to pick the right domain name and its importance in another blog post here on my website. An example of having a professional business email address from a paid website is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. And examples of unprofessional/free email address are any that end in @gmail.com or @yahoo.com. I usually do not buy from businesses that use free email addresses to conduct business. I do make exceptions for people that I know and some that are just getting started, or whom have used it for business so long that changing it wouldn't be beneficial.

Website prices can range drastically. This is definitely a major con but it is a necessity and an expected cost of doing business. You will need to buy a domain name and pay for the space/bandwidth that your website files consume. Thankfully, you can get all of this from one web hosting company. There are so many web hosting providers on the Internet but I have been with HostRocket for 10+ years. They have great customer service and they have made it easy for me to scale my websites as my business needs demand it.

The Answer/Take Action

You need to have both a paid website and a Facebook business page. BUT, having a paid website is more important and you should purchase that first. Then create a Facebook fan page to grow your fan base, establish relationships with them, and build trust for your brand/business. Then use it to support your paid website by driving your target audience to it. These are simplified directions of how to use your paid website and any social media platform together to increase your customer base and ultimately grow your profits.

Share

If you liked what you read, please share it with anyone you feel could benefit from this information. To make it easier, use the social media buttons just below this article. If you're using a small mobile device, you can click on one of the sharing buttons along the bottom of this screen. And don’t forget to leave your comments below. Thanks for reading.